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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Why Pentecostal Churches Are Growing

I
hear and read so much today about the decline of churches that when something
happens that proves otherwise, I immediately get excited. In fact, when I come
across a church that’s not only making a real difference in peoples’ lives but actually
demonstrating the supernatural presence of God, I really sit up and pay
attention. That doesn’t happen every day.

Which
is why I found myself last Thursday night in the small community of Richlands,
North Carolina at the dedication service of the new building for the Agape Life
Family Church.

The
church was started five years ago by an old friend and his wife in the living
room of their home. Just a handful of people to start with. My friend had been
through a personal crisis and through his healing and restoration God had
birthed a passion in his heart to pastor. There was a further unusual command
from the Lord to him at that early juncture: he couldn’t actually invite anyone
to the new church. Only the people whom the Lord led there were to attend. That’s
not a normal approach to church planting.

So
my friend and his wife—people of great faith—simply did what they felt led to
do and started the church. A sidebar here: church planting today is a highly
developed science. Denominational strategies; leadership conferences;
demographic studies; sociological analyses; highly paid consultants—all this
and more are a vital part of the process for most new churches. Per capita
income is another important piece of the puzzle. Just take a look at the
locations of many of the satellite campuses of high-profile churches: it’s no
accident that their new churches are located in high income areas. It’s also
important—the experts say—that a new church have a cool name. Something
intriguing and evocative that catches the attention of people tired of old
churchy language.

None
of that made any difference to the fledgling Agape Life Family Church. They
just heard from God and started out. They soon outgrew the pastor’s living room
and moved to a local school. After a while there they moved again, to a unit in
a small strip mall. Around this time the pastor quit his regular job to devote
his attention full time to his small congregation. He didn’t really have a plan
on how he and his family would financially survive; all he knew was that he and
his wife had heard from God and obeyed.

Along
the way the congregation came to expect the miraculous. People were healed. Lives
were turned around. Circumstances were divinely ordered. Their journey from the
first was one of God’s guidance and provision.

Along
this time, another organization entered the story. The Righteous Preachers
Network based in Michigan is a group of several hundred independent pastors and
their churches across the country connected to one another by their theology
(all are Pentecostal) but also through their shared affinity for the network’s
leader, Dr. Mark Barclay. Barclay, a former Marine, is an unusually gifted
leader and has intentionally built his organization to reflect his own values
of church planting and leadership. He personally connects with everyone in the
network as their coach, mentor, friend, accountability partner and—most importantly—pastor.

Another
sidebar: a similar organization is the Acts 29 Network, founded by Seattle
pastor Mark Driscoll. While different from the RPN in theology (Acts 29 is strongly
Reformed) and practice (Acts 29 doesn’t extend anywhere near the level of
personal accountability to its partners as does RPN), both networks as well as many
others like them are part of a vast and growing independent network of
churches, leaders and organizations doing vibrant and creative ministry outside
the old religious structures. While a generally unseen dynamic in today’s
church culture, the success of these extra-denominational entities is a
powerful indicator of the imminent death of denominations.

So
after five years through several evolutions of meeting places; the continuing spiritual
growth of their pastors; and the invaluable addition of the Righteous Preachers
Network that added a level of personal mentoring and accountability to the mix,
the Agape Family Life Church broke every church planting rule in the book and
on February 7 dedicated their new building to the Lord. One last sidebar: the
new building is located in an out of the way place, a field outside of town.
Not consultant would ever have recommended that. Another rule broken.

Several
hundred people gathered in the new church on a cold, rainy night for the
three-hour-long service. I didn’t know what to expect but even my vague expectations
were exceeded—on every level. The congregation’s energy was through the roof. Old
and young. Rich and poor. Military and civilian. Black and white. All singing,
shouting and praying. The high point was when Dr. Barclay gave a prophecy for
the church. Now, I’ve attended church dedication services before. I’ve even led
a few. And I’m well familiar with the appropriate hymns, Scripture readings, responsive
readings, official guests and all the other accoutrements of main-line churches
as they dedicate their buildings. But I’d never seen anything like this: a man praying
fire down from heaven and bringing a fresh word from the Lord for his people. “This
will be the Church of the Next Level,” Barclay declared and so cast the vision
that will move that congregation yet further in their unique journey.

All
of this, of course, is strongly Pentecostal. It strikes many people as, well,
odd and out of step with modern religious sensibilities. Today, so many have
reduced biblical faith to a set of moral platitudes on the one hand or, on the
other, the ministrations of celebrity pastors whose churches are built around
the show they put on Sunday morning. Pentecostals, on the other hand, actually
believe that the God of the Bible still speaks; still works miracles; and still
intervenes in human lives.

Even
with all its excesses (and there are excesses: as a relatively new arrival
Pentecostalism has some significant theological issues to resolve),
Pentecostalism is booming. According to the Center for the Study of Global
Christianity, the 584 million Pentecostals throughout the world represent the fastest
growing segment of world-wide Christianity. That’s 26% of all Christians. The
numbers are rapidly growing for the same reason that the Agape Life Family Church
is rapidly growing: people are desperate for the real touch of God on their
lives.

Anyway,
with all due respect to the various experts, demographic studies, economic
analyses, creative consultants, celebrity pastors, technology dollars and
denominational bureaucrats that have so much experience with church plants,
here are a few observations from the experience of Agape Life Family Church:

·Lead
pastors play a central role in effective church planting. Until and unless they
have an authentic and compelling vision from the Lord, a new church simply won’t
work. A church doesn’t come into existence because of the cool analysis of data
but through the supernatural direction of the Holy Spirit.

·All
authentic church ministry—new or established—is an exercise of faith. To try
and make it otherwise is to fail.

·Prayer
is the essential way God provides for his people.

·The
power of the gospel is exactly the same today as it was in Jesus’ time. It’s still the only reason churches exist.

·Simple
is good—the more complicated our churches become, the more difficult they are
to lead and the more energy is expended in maintaining institutional needs. Our
highest energy must always be directed toward our mission.

·The
role of overseers (call them apostles, bishops, pastors to pastors or mentors—the
function is basically the same) is indispensable. Most modern churches and
their pastors are on their own, an unbiblical and dangerous situation.

·In
this post-denominational era, new networks are emerging that connect
congregations of like and mind and purpose in productive and exciting ways.